Charlie Alford

Horror of cattle shot in public view, but humane slaughter is a myth

Post author:Robert Freeman
Post published:2 August 2026
Post last modified:2 August 2026

There has been public outrage over a horrific incident in which authorities gunned down 51 cattle in County Tyrone, in the north of Ireland, doing so in a publicly visible area. Complaints from politicians have centred on why the brutal measures had to be carried out in an area viewable by locals. However, the obvious question this begs is the following: why would mass murder suddenly become justifiable if it is hidden out of sight? The details of the incident are unquestionably distressing. According to Sinn Féin councillor, Eugene McConnell, the killing took almost 12 hours to complete. He told the…

Universities betray public trust by joining MoD ‘Battlefield Advantage’ alliance

Post author:The Canary
Post published:17 July 2026
Post last modified:18 July 2026

A coalition of campaign groups has accused UK universities of quietly integrating themselves into the UK’s defence infrastructure after 35 institutions signed up to the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Universities Alliance (DUA). The Ministry of Defence says the alliance aims to: reorientate academia towards Defence and National Security. It wants to strengthen links between universities and the defence sector, and translate research into “battlefield advantage”. Campaigners say the move represents a significant shift in the role of higher education and has taken place without meaningful public debate. Among the founding members are: University of Oxford. University College London. King’s College London.…

Billions in UK public funds are going to dodgy private equity firms

Post author:Ed Sykes
Post published:30 June 2026
Post last modified:1 July 2026

Billions of pounds in UK public funds are going to private equity firms, which have a reputation for lowering standards for profit. Most alarmingly, these firms are getting money for services supposedly caring for people in vulnerable situations, including children. Private equity firms profiting from essential services An extensive Guardian analysis showed that private equity firms have spread into: The social care sector. Private equity has developed a “large presence in adult and children’s social care”, including for people with mental health issues or learning disabilities. Residential care giant Four Seasons Health Care was one example of the debt accumulation and…

Home Secretary wants public to decide asylum seekers’ appeals

Post author:Maddison Wheeldon
Post published:29 June 2026
Post last modified:29 June 2026

Members of the public will be asked to volunteer to decide on appeals from asylum seekers as part of a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA). Shabana Mahmood is expected to introduce the proposal under the new Immigration and Asylum Bill, which will be presented to MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The Home Office argues public participation will speed up deportations of ‘illegal immigrants’ with magistrate-like changes to empower those without legal knowledge to help clear the backlog. Currently, the backlog of appeals outnumbers those waiting for initial decisions, signaling the scale of the crisis. However, racists and…

London Met Police expands facial recognition cams, sold as ‘public safety’

Post author:Grace
Post published:23 June 2026
Post last modified:23 June 2026

The Metropolitan Police has announced plans to expand its deployment of live facial recognition (LFR) technology in London. The Met Police force is planning on having the intrusive scanning technology set up in Soho and the West End by December 2026. Over the following year, six more areas across London are slated to follow. However, civil liberties organisation Big Brother Watch has called these plans: an alarming escalation of an intrusive technology which has already scanned the faces of millions of innocent Londoners. Likewise, the privacy campaigner also highlighted the recent high-profile case of Alvi Choudhury. The young British-Asian man was…

Only the Green Party commits to Makerfield public ownership pledges

Post author:The Canary
Post published:16 June 2026
Post last modified:17 June 2026

Only the Green Party has responded to a Makerfield public ownership pledge launched today, explaining which local public services they would take back if elected. Andy Burnham has not clarified his position, despite his critique of privatisation in recent weeks. Campaign group We Own It asked the six main Makerfield candidates for their positions on public ownership of water, energy and buses, as well as a local BlackRock deal with Greater Manchester Pension Fund to buy up GP surgeries. Nearly 10,000 emails have been sent to the candidates over the weekend to put pressure on them to reveal their policies. This…

Badenoch delivers sad speech attacking public sector equality duty

Post author:Alex/Rose Cocker
Post published:9 June 2026
Post last modified:9 June 2026

Kemi Badenoch has announced her intention to “repeal the public sector equality duty in its entirety”. The PSED, or simply “the duty”, requires public sector leaders to abide by equality considerations set out in the 2010 Equality Act. Principally, this means working to prevent discrimination against people with protected characteristics (race, sex, disability etc), and monitoring the outcomes of that work. The news comes just a week after Nigel Farage weaponised the tragic murder of Henry Nowak as an excuse to attack diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Vickrum Digwa, a British Asian man, stabbed Nowak, then told police he had…

Australia: Public inquiry overdue for secretive, expensive AUKUS pact

Post author:Joe Glenton
Post published:2 June 2026
Post last modified:9 June 2026

The AUKUS war pact between the US, UK and Australia is expensive, secretive, and the “worst defence decision” since WWII. That’s according to a respected Australian expert, who says a proper inquiry is long overdue. Ian Lowe, an emeritus professor at Griffith University, Queensland, published a recent critique of the deal, saying it was: Negotiated rapidly and in secret [and that] the AUKUS pact to produce new nuclear-powered submarines is among the most expensive, consequential and opaque deals in British and Australian military history. Australia probes shadowy defence deal Australians are holding a public inquiry, a move that Lowe welcomes. The scholar…

Private consultancy firms rake in big GB Energy public money

Post author:Cameron Baillie
Post published:29 May 2026
Post last modified:8 June 2026

New-ish GB Energy has wasted no time siphoning off public money to private companies. Scottish paper the National has revealed that up to £20m of taxpayer money is going straight to consultancy firms. GB Energy: corporate capture Under energy secretary Ed Miliband’s guidance, London-based firms Deloitte and Baringa Partners are gaining lucrative contracts. They’re to handle day-to-day operations of Labour’s flagship — supposedly publicly-owned — corporation GB Energy. The National has revealed that these contracts, signed on 1 May, awarded the two firms a shared programme — worth up to £10m each — in which they will: be responsible for “organisational set…

The Public gets what the Public wants

Post author:Alf
Post published:4 January 2025
Post last modified:14 July 2026

The current odds offered by bookmakers on the next UK Prime Minister.

Explore the latest UK Prime Minister odds as a fragile government faces change, with Elon Musk's political ambitions stirring the pot. Are you prepared for the shift?